Problems Emailing Hotmail / MSN USers?

[Freebie]

As of today im unable to email hotmail users and MSN users. Anyone else having this problem?

Emails report back as: Command rejected for policy reasons.

Ive Googled the problem, and it sends me to postmater.msn.com.

I've always double opted members in, always given them multiple ways of unsubscribing. I dont spam.

I've emailed the address on the page, and if im understanding things right, hotmail will not unblock my emails as they will not allow any site that shares an IP to take part in this new program.

Can anyone help me? or am i now forced into either changing my hosting, or not allowing hotmail/msn users?

[Shane]

Heard of another big freebie list having same trouble

seems bizzare that bearing in mind hotmail and msn make money from impression / click based advertising on pages where emails are read that they should now start messing about with genuine opt in that has been getting through fine for years.

Think it's going to be a case of eventually for all of us that you can't send bulk mail unless you use an approved email sending service who will ride you like a pony to make sure you are whiter than white and your list is uber clean so they don't get banned themselves.

[aclarke656]

I had a similar problem with AOL last year. How often are you cleaning your list ?

[Freebie]

I clean my list after every email. I generally get about 150 returns per 10,000 email sent. Once i clear out the over quota ones im left with a couple of dozen generally.

Been doing things in the same way for 5 or 6 years now, and ive never seen this message before.

From what i can gather this is a new email checking service built into windows live mail (which all hotmail users are gradually getting upgraded to) - instead of users having an allow list Microsoft is deciding what can and cant be received instead.

[Frostie]

Originally Posted by Freebie instead of users having an allow list Microsoft is deciding what can and cant be received instead.

Surely thats not official as that is highly illegal!

You sure you or your server aren't listed on any RBL?
http://www.robtex.com/rbls.html

[Freebie]

I ran the ip at robtex, all places came up as N/A (last 8), Skipped (first 4), or OK (the rest).

Well, as said i emailed them, and they have made clear that i have not been blocked because i am sending spam, but the Smartscreen filter they are using is seeing my mail as junk. This filter learns on it's own, and is the first of 3 filters an email has to get to to end up in the members inbox. Once smartscreen sees an email as junk, it never changes its mind.

I have been told that i can join the Sender Score Certified program, which will once again allow my emails to pass through the filter. Joining this program is the only way i can get the block removed as Smartscreen checks this before checking the email itself. To join this program i have to provide lots of stuff, and be monitored after passing. The problem is they remove the block by Ip, and as im sharing an IP, and the IP is not registered to my company (both are required), i cant join.

Now i cant find anywhere on the postmaster.msn.com site that says they are deciding what can be received and what isnt, but thats the way it seems to me. No one has complained about me as far as i can tell, they admit they can block some people that arnt spamming, but the way above is the way to deal with it - but it's no help to me!!!

So, it still seems to me that i either change my hosting so that i can join this program, or i dont allow msn / hotmail users from now on...

[Freebie]

OK, just got this answer, although not from an official source.

Windows live mail looks at the email you receive. If the sender is not in your address book it reports "received mail from unkown sender", it then allows you to mark the mail as junk or not. Smartscreen is reading this information, and if too many people mark the email as junk, then you get blocked cause the email is junk as far as it's concerned.

So, maybe microsoft arnt making the decision and end users are. I can imagine many of my members wanting access to my site without the bother of emails - i know this because the amount of AOL users that sign up then block my emails same day is about 5% of all AOL signups. The thing is with AOL is that it doesnt matter, i can either let them away with it, or delete their memberships. Hotmail have gone one further, and is making the assumption that if some people dont want the email, no others will.

Ive got a headache. My problem is the % of my userbase that uses hotmail / MSN / live mail.

[Barry]

I just got your mailout to my hotmail so you must have fixed something

[Freebie]

I was wondering if they were really going out. Ive changed mailing software. Keeping my fingers crossed tomorrow i dont find im blocked again.

Thanks for telling me.

[Frostie]

Cant your host provide you with your own IP Address? I have an IP Address, although I am on a shared server, so anything I send comes from an IP Address that only I can use.

Maybe worth having a word with your host mate. I think its only a couple of quid a year - well worth it to be safe.

[Barry]

No prob, glad its working out for you.